Yunnan Ride 2010

Looking for somewhere warm to ride towards the end of November I opted for Yunnan. Using the transportation mode outlined by euphonius, I put the JH600 on the train in Shanghai on Monday (Nov-22) and flew down to Kunming on Friday night after work. The next day I picked up the bike at the Kunming train station, prepped for the ride, and was on the road Sunday morning.

Ride Overview
Take a 7 day ride south of Kunming towards the borders of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar- experiencing the warm winter sun, mountains and ethnic minority culture of Yunnan. Up to Dali for some chill relaxing then back to Kunming before training the bike back to Shanghai on Sunday (Dec-5) and catching my flight.

I checked around regarding roads and routes and didn't seen any red flags. What I would later find is the G214 ripped up to shit (between Lancang & Lincang). There wasn't much of a road left. I faced 150 kms of mud, sand, and gravel, including a 6-hour trucker backup on a narrow mud road along a river that the JH600 was too wide to get thru. Oh yeah, and rock slides (see video).

Parts of the ride were rough, especially when you're out there slinging it alone. But the greatest impression that the ride left me with is a deep appreciation for China's Road Workers. At RMB 50/day these guys work their asses off in dangerous conditions, many without aid of machinery - using their bare hands to give us great roads to ride on. 谢谢你们！

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Route
Kunming - Yuanyang - Jiangcheng - Jinghong - Shangyun - Gengma - Dali - Kuming

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Yunnan Ride 2010 Part I



Yunnan Ride 2010 Part II




Ride Stats
Riding Days: 7 days
Total Distance: 2,086 kms
Average Time Riding Each Day (including stops): 6.8 hrs
Average Speed (including stops): 44 kph
Low Daily Avg Speed: 16kph (trucker backup + rock slide)
High Daily Avg Speed: 104kph (expressway Dali to Kunming)

* And S214 you see on this video (Part II) is expected to be up and running by April and completed by June - "Miracles of China".

Epic stuff there MotoKai :thumbsup:. Looks like some amazing photography, any chance those photo's are in an album online? Would love to see them in a larger size.

Thanks for sharing with us. :clap:

Cheers!
ChinaV

Yeah, I'll Flickr some photos after the New Year and post a few pics here - thanks.
And for those who don't have the attention span to get thru both videos, the "epic rock slide" is in Part II (at the 5min mark) - so you can fast forward.

* And I don't have a helmet cam (as you can tell). So the riding videos were taken while riding with my point & shoot camera in video mode and hanging from my neck. So for those of you prone to seizures, you may want to look away from the screen during these moments. My little disclaimer.

Thanks :thumbsup:

:eekers: G214, hmm similar situation since 2 years. Good to hear that it soon be finished. :riding:

Bloody great - my GF was leaning on me looking over my shoulder asking me why I was watching some blokes handlebars bounce up and down and then it changed and she shut up. (Miracle number one). Number two, she asked when we could go to that great looking place. Miracle three, I told her I was going on my own and she just nodded. Miracle four will be if I get away with that.

Days 1 & 2: Kunming - Yuanyang - Jiangcheng (Photos include S214)

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MotoKai,
Excellent ride report.You must do video as a profession?

Damn and double damn, wish I could have made that ride with you. These pix are awesome.

Question: in the self-portrait, are you actually wearing your "No hindrance but conquer" freebie riding jacket from Jialing?? I'll need to drop a few kg (like 10) to fit comfortably into mine...

cheers!

Thanks barnone - No, just like to keep my photos and video together in video format for my own posterity. Use the free MS software "Movie Maker" to drop them together and lay down some tracks - just for fun. I think one day I'd like to get a helmet cam (hope Ryan is still saving me the Countour!) and some better software that has more features and less bugs.

And by the way, the software is free but that orange "No hindrance but conquer" Jialing MCU (Motor Conquerer Union) jacket was NOT a freebie. That was earned - I'm in the club. And don't think you're not in the club euphonius!

Days 3 & 4: Jiancheng - Jinghong - Shangyuan (Photos include S218, G213, G214)

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Days 5 -7: Shangyuan - Gengma - Dali - Kunming (G214, S314, S319, G214, S224, G56)

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:clap: GREAT VIDEO - GREAT RIDE :clap:

Thanks for posting. I experienced once a similar rock-slide, not as serious as this one though. How did you get through? Any issues on the JH6oo, except for the "bad gasoline" hick-ups once and a while? How did the bike survived the train transport? I heard they are not always very gentle when handling things...

Can't wait to see more pictures - hope you will post some more...

Cheers,
AW.

Hi Motokai,

Thanks a lot for posting this, great vid and pics, but mostly what a ride! You covered an awesome variety of terrain there in not so much time, you should be well proud of yourself! How long did you wait after those rocks had finished falling before braving it through the gauntlet?

I'm also interested in knowing how the steed held up to the journey. That must be a respectable amount of mileage you have on it now!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pfaelzer

.....I experienced once a similar rock-slide, not as serious as this one though. How did you get through? Any issues on the JH6oo, except for the "bad gasoline" hick-ups once and a while? How did the bike survived the train transport? I heard they are not always very gentle when handling things...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by felix

.....How long did you wait after those rocks had finished falling before braving it through the gauntlet? I'm also interested in knowing how the steed held up to the journey. That must be a respectable amount of mileage you have on it now!

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Thanks guys!

Rock Slide
As the rock slide wasn't an act of god, but related to the road construction, there was a greater sense of predictability. But as you can see by the guys running thru there without vehicles - you couldn't waste time. So after an hour of waiting due to the "danger time", "the fall" and "the clearing by the bulldozer" - ride past it as fast as you can :riding:. By the way, while the bulldozer was clearing the rocks, a boulder (the size of my front wheel) came down the mountain and crashed into the bulldozer. There was so much force, the bulldozer rocked back and forth after being hit, but didn't tip and the driver wasn't hurt.

JH600
The pride of the ride is the JH600 herself. Have now nearly 6000kms on the amazing little Chongqing beast.
Train transportation was first class! Friendly, reliable. They sort of handled her like a cow in Kobe, Japan.
The ride was mostly smooth - couple of burps of bad gas, but less troublesome than during the Anhui ride in Oct, and Yunnan was 600km longer (it's all "E" gas in Anhui, so maybe that's the difference?).

You're right Felix - lots of different terrain and road surfaces, and she's not equal on them all. With the CQ stock tires, she thrives thru the twisties on the blacktop/tarmac. She was also magnificant on the dirt & hard-packed mud trails like these (S214 NE of Jiancheng):

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On the hard-packed mud, she was like a flattrack racer, sliding and broadsiding the corners, as flattracks don't use knobby rear tires either. Since I was on a solo-ride, I had to seek out an artist rendition of me riding from the local Hanizu (ethnic minority people): :naughty:

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So the JH600 can be fun off-road too, provided there's no wet mud, sandy conditions, and hard bumps.
Wet Mud: Where are the knobbies when you need them? The CQ stock tires make wet mud feel like ice. You struggle to keep her from going sideways.
Sand: In soft dirt/sand/gravel, there's no grip with the CQ stock tires. You have to bring your speed down so slow to keep her upright.
Hard Bumps: I must have skipped the suspension modification section of Pfaelzer's epic My new JH600 posting. On long rides with bad roads, the stock "highway suspension" will exhaust you physically.

Your rides are proving to be a fine adjunct to the wealth of material on the JH600. I hope the 'factory' reads and listens and realises it has a good machine many people are willing to work up, and importantly trust their life to on longhaul trips. Maybe some of the newbies will start to realise you can get a few chinese bikes into good shape with a bit of work and some are pretty good from stock. I would change that front mudguard though, dangerous on those muddy tracks.

Pfaelzer - Based on my ride comments above regarding tires, how do you like the Heidenau K60s?
How would you compare these with the JH600 stock tires on different surfaces (highways, twisties, dry mud, wet mud, sand)?

Pfaelzer's Heidenau K60s
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MotoKai,

Good topic. I'm up to 8k on my stock rubber, and definitely needing an update.

Have you got a local source for those Heidenaus? What else is available inside China?

cheers

I don't think those little hairy knobbies on the edge will do much, might sweep the driveway for ya before you leave ... and they go faster with red stripes, everyone knows that!

I had the same size tires on my F650, which I recently sold because I couldn't afford decent tires every 90 days :lol8:. How you can possibly get 8k kilometers out of rubber in China simply amazes me :eekers: :bowdown:

Those Heidenau K60s are sweet, but they do run about $275.00 USD for a set. I've never seen anyone in China or Hong Kong with them. What I have seen are a fair bit of Pirelli MT90 S/T, Metzeler Tourance, Michelin Anakee, and Bridgestone Trailwing / Battlewings. Seems that the recent shindigs in Shanghai and Guangzhou have stopped the regular importers from bringing stuff in, so it's a tough time for good rubber in China right now. Word in the GZ MC market yesterday was that everything should be normal again after CNY.

When things are normal here, Bridgestone is one of the most popular brands you will find. The Trailwings have good grip on the road and seem to do OK on hard packed dirt, venture into the mud and you will probably refer to them as deathwings. The Battlewing is just plain awesome on the road and also does OK in the hard pack and mud (my preferred V-Strom tire). I do like the Metzeler tourance, but beware, the idiots ordering them have a tendancy to mix radial fronts with non radial rears or vise versa...not how I like to roll.

Never got a chance to try the stock JH600 rubber, but it's probably going to be the most reasonable thing to buy as they are available on the local market and the price is low compared to the ¥2000+ for any of those I mentioned above.

Whatever you get, be sure you find a place that can mount and balance them. The JH600 isn't a little 200cc farm vehicle, proper balancing is actually important.

Cheers!
ChinaV

The K60s are 135EUR in Germany incl. VAT. They are great for on and off-road, no big difference to the TKC80s, however, the Heidenau tires last longer. Both are hard to get in Asia, and even you could get them in HK, Thailand or Korea, there is still the trouble to bring them into China.

MotoKai, seems like you got two choices, wait until CNY has passed or go through the hassle of import...

Cheers,
AW.

:clap: great pics and video.. you must have a top-class P&S! seems to do well with high-dynamic scenes, well-exposed without blowing out the sky / cloud detail.. i'm impressed!
what software are you using for post-processing for your pics?

and whats your flickr link? i'm interested in checking out your pics as well! :)

Thanks ekki. The Nikon P6000 took a bit of abuse on the Yunnan ride. The automatic lens cover stopped closing when powering off (probably from the dust), so had to use my muddy gloves to finger it closed. This probably did even more damage to the little motor. I using some basic MS Photo Gallery app when editing.

I am looking for a decent "Movie Maker" app, so if anyone has suggestions please let me know (using Windows, not mac).

flickr link = http://www.flickr.com/photos/55087488@N07/

Next question: Did you shoot in RAW format? If these images are locked in a non-editable format, your P6000 and your own skills commend themselves even more highly.

A very nice collection of images, for which thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MotoKai

...if anyone has suggestions please let me know (using Windows, not mac).

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Um, get a Mac?:icon10:

cheers!

Shooting in RAW sounds fun, but not while riding solo thru the China countryside.
And also I think there must be laws that prohibit this.

(Seems you can take the guy out of California, but you can't take California out of the guy!)

Wonderful journey Kai!
do you like the spicy food in YunNan?
in 2011, we'd transport our JH600B also by train upto Sichuan, and then travel around Yunnan and Tibet.
what has shocked me is how can you recognize the road without the help of a GPS? u r so magic!

Thanks for the comments Daniel.
Regarding GPS, it is magic - Google!

"Have GPS — Will Travel". I have a HTC operating android in my pocket with Google Maps.
Before leaving I create an initial route using the "My Maps" feature then open as a layer on my mobile device while I'm riding.

After returning home I revise the final route I took using Google Maps:

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Killer pics and video. Just completed the trip from Kunming to Jinghong, cutting through Tonghai and then back east to Yuanjiang. Fantastic photos as well, big fan of HDR. A few on our site as well www.greatrideforward.com

Great stuff. Much appreciated! We are going through pretty much the first quarter or your ride as I write this.

Pete/Hans,

Your ride looks awesome - Love the site, photos and video.
Keep the the uploads coming, and let's hook up for a beer in SH when you guys are back in town!

* Give a shout if you have any questions (your MCM Support Team is always here).

Hi,

Those are some sweet sweet images. Excellent riding.

Ryan Pyle
www.mkride.com